Battery Maintaince Charge

[MichaelB]

Hi there

Now that our Cali is 3 years old I am thinking about little maintenance jobs to look after the 'old' girl. I am convinced that the leisure batteries don't have quite the longevity they had when new. Now I must admit to being a little paranoid and any slight difference in the way she behaves I am convinced something expensive is about to go wrong (there have been a few incidents to prove I am not that paranoid).

I'm sure I read way back that some people use a battery charger with a maintenance cycle to keep their leisure batteries in tip top condition but can't find the thread now. I don't meant the standard hock up charging.

Does anyone do this? If so how do I go about doing the same?

 

[CaliforniaDAN]

Hi
Once a month I hook up my Cali to an outside socket on my house and leave it to charge for at least 24 hours.

Having just
checked my manual it states "they should be charged at regular intervals - minimum of every 4 weeks - for at least 12 hours."

 

[jts46]

Still have original leisure batteries, i also charge them monthly for 24/48 hrs

John

 

[snowy55]

Do you need to mains charge the batteries even if you drive the Cali 3-4 times a week?

 

[MichaelB]

Thanks everyone. I do the regular charge. I was sure I read some people use a maintenance charger to look after them even more then the monthly charge would do. Perhaps I read it on the pre club forum.

Do you need to mains charge the batteries even if you drive the Cali 3-4 times a week?

Well the manual says "If the additional battery is not charged by the alternator while the engine is running, the additional battery must be charged..."

I've always taken then to mean if you do not use your Cali as a daily driver you will need to do the monthly charge. So I don't think you do if you take the manual at it's word.

That said I do a full charge anyway to be on the safe side.

 

[rippers]

Silly question but could you leave them on charge the whole time you don't use them?
I have plug socket in my garage.Would this be too much/dangerous or no problem?

 

[v-tec]

Not sure that I would feel safe about that,
Regular monthly charge will be fine,12/24 hours then check battery status on control panel,
I do have a CTEK 5.0 smart charger/with maintenance suitable for AGM batteries it does have a regen mode
I would only use this if the batteries were disconnected, So not to damage the on board charger and controle unit, ,http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/12v

 

[Hotel California]

Silly question but could you leave them on charge the whole time you don't use them?
I have plug socket in my garage.Would this be too much/dangerous or no problem?

I just plug mine in at weekends , saturday morning till sunday evening , we have chaeper electric at weekends so i charge,laundry,cut firewood,...only in weekends
As for leaving it pluged in , put a digital timer between it , so it charges over every 12 h or so.
Would not leave it pluged in 24/7.

 

[GrannyJen]

I plug

I just plug mine in at weekends , saturday morning till sunday evening , we have chaeper electric at weekends so i charge,laundry,cut firewood,...only in weekends
.

cut firewood?

I prefer to cook with gas Leaves less smoke stains on the roof lining ....

 

[rippers]

As for leaving it pluged in , put a digital timer between it , so it charges over every 12 h or so.
Would not leave it pluged in 24/7

Good idea

 

[jeff]

Couldn't you just leave it plugged in to EHU all the time to maintain the batterys.

 

[GrannyJen]

Mine is left plugged in when it's at home

 

[Hotel California]

For me , i would not leave it plugged in all the time , just becouse it don't need to for the batteries ....once every week if the Cali is not used is more than enough .
Second , for sure something can ( i say can...) go wrong , overheating or so...and the electricity used even just plugged in and not charging is also a thing.
So i just plug it in once a while , not 24/7

 

[Hotel California]

Mine is left plugged in when it's at home

....but you use your Cali as daily driver...No?

 

[GrannyJen]

....but you use your Cali as daily driver...No?

No, my sister and I share another vehicle.

however Albert is in use most weeks for one thing or another.

 

[Hotel California]

Learned in a workshop today that the battery needs to be topped up on hook- up at least once a month for at least 12 h continous , the loading cyclus takes up to 12 h ...
When driving the motor generates power and loads first the starter and then the lesure batts. ....if the amp. shown on the roofdisplay gives a number under 2 amp. While driving !The lesure batts. are as good as full loaded .
So they told me that if not on hookup a few days on site ,if the battery is low you need to drive or let the engine run until its shown under or arround 2amp.to load them fully and have again 3to4 days electric

 

[Eystein007]

Hi.

Is the inbuilt charger (when hooked up) fair enough or shoul I bye a good charger and conect it directly to the batteries. What is best practise?

 

[Hotel California]

There is no need to have an xtra charger , just keep in mind it first charges engine batt and then the lesure batts. The whole deep charging cycle takes about 12 hours on hook up they told me .When driving it charges the same way by checking the amp. on the display , as is shows 2 amp or less it has been pretty good charged!

 

[jts46]

Learned in a workshop today that the battery needs to be topped up on hook- up at least once a month for at least 12 h continous , the loading cyclus takes up to 12 h ...
When driving the motor generates power and loads first the starter and then the lesure batts. ....if the amp. shown on the roofdisplay gives a number under 2 amp. While driving !The lesure batts. are as good as full loaded .
So they told me that if not on hookup a few days on site ,if the battery is low you need to drive or let the engine run until its shown under or arround 2amp.to load them fully and have again 3to4 days electric

Excellent perhaps people will now take notice, i have been doing this for years. Well done good info

John

 

[Ricotansky]

Hmm we are on hookup at the moment (and have been since 4pm yesterday). The display is showing 0.6amps. Is that OK, does that mean it is fully charged? We've also had the fridge on so perhaps it won't have been a full charge?

 

[Hotel California]

Hmm we are on hookup at the moment (and have been since 4pm yesterday). The display is showing 0.6amps. Is that OK, does that mean it is fully charged? We've also had the fridge on so perhaps it won't have been a full charge?

That should be ok !

 

[Ricotansky]

That should be ok !

Ta! It was showing 100% charged when we got home which I've always assumed is a good thing!

Does the amp readout indicate power coming into the van? It was showing 0.4 to 0.6 while plugged in and then 0amp once the hookup was removed.

I even tried to find out from the manual this morning but I'm still none the wiser to what the amp readout is for.

PS apologies if I have hijacked the thread...

 

[umby27]

With running engine, driving or hookup you are charging so it shows how much amps it is putting into the batteries, so the lower the number the fuller the battery. When you are not charging and only consuming then it will show the amps you are consuming.

 

[Ricotansky]

Perfect! Thanks for that, makes sense now

 

[Barryjm]

Leave mine plugged in most of the time, the Cali is not a regular runaround. This keeps the batteries topped up and healthy. Just do not let them get flat as this will reduce the life of the lead acid batteries.


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